Victor Pan's bloghttp://www.wordstream.com/blogs/victor-pan
enBuy Facebook Fans! They’re Worth $174 More than Non-Fans On Average!http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/10/29/buy-facebook-fans
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>According to the internet, <a href="http://mashable.com/2013/04/17/facebook-fan-value-researcher/">a Facebook fan is worth $174</a>.</p>
<p><img alt="mark zuckerberg wants you to buy facebok fans" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/buy-facebook-fans.jpg" style="width: 479px; height: 360px;" /></p>
<p><em>I imagine this was Zuck-dawg’s first response to the news.</em><br /><br />Every month, 12,100 people search on the keyword [buy Facebook fans], and there are two types of people who search for this query that worry me. The first type is someone who believes that the number of Facebook fans they have is a measure of Facebook marketing success. Then there are those who make a living off of people who hold those beliefs. These people are necessary in any marketing function, but it becomes a problem when they lose track of the true value behind what a Facebook ”like” is supposed to stand for.<br /><br />In today’s post, I’ll be breaking down the misconceptions we hold about the value of a Facebook fan on your brand page, including three questions to ask about these kinds of studies, and then explain why buying Facebook fans is a bad idea.</p>
<h2>What Is a Facebook Fan Worth?</h2>
<h3><br /><img alt="Facebok fans worth $174" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/facebook-fan-value.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 356px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></h3>
<p>Back in April, Mashable reporter Todd Wasserman covered a report from Syncapse, a social media services company, on the value of a Facebook fan. And everyone started quoting the absurd $174 price tag. It didn’t go viral because it was great reporting (no offense Todd). It went viral because people only remembered the headline. Much of the actual reporting was skipped, causing misconceptions to be widespread. I’d like to caution readers of the WordStream blog to the dangers of summary statistics of any sort of data-driven report.<br /><br /><img alt="value of a facebook fan" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/average-facebook-fan-value.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 496px;" /><br /><em>What the flying duck tours is going on with this data? Let’s dig in and find out</em></p>
<h2>Question the Source: Does This Facebook Fan Value Research Apply to Your Brand?</h2>
<p>The answer is probably no. The research disclosed that 2,000 panelists were selected for this research data – and from the look of these multi-million-dollar brands, your little brand was not even considered. These are giant corporations, not SMBs. Surely, you wouldn’t expect 50 Facebook Fans that “like” a local pizza store to generate $8700 (50 Fans X $174 Average Facebook Fan Value = $8700) more in sales.</p>
<p>Based on the way the survey was conducted, the results do not apply to you. As a matter of fact, it would be ridiculous for any brand that was a panelist to compare their fan worth against $174. However, compliments are due to the Syncapse marketing team for incorporating brands to make the study more relatable. We’ve done the same thing in our research on Google Earnings.<br /><br /><em>Pro tip: When looking at any sort of social media research, look at the source where the data is sampled.</em><br /><br />(<strong>More</strong>: <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/articles/google-earnings">What Industries Contributed the Most to Google’s Earnings?</a>)</p>
<h2>Understand What Is Being Measured: How Did the Average Facebook Fan Become So Valuable?</h2>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">“The study compared Facebook fans and non-fans based [on] their corresponding product spending, <strong>brand loyalty</strong>, <strong>propensity to recommend</strong>, <strong>media value</strong>, cost of acquisition and <strong>brand affinity</strong> to arrive at the figure.”</p>
<p>There’s more than one way you can define the value of a Facebook fan as there’s <a href="http://i.imgur.com/a0B5d.gif">more than one way you can a slice the pizza</a>. I’ve highlighted the questionable factors in the Syncapse study that contribute to their average value calculation. If there are any factors in a research study that’s being used which you don’t agree with, then you should disregard the study. Likewise, if a research study is missing out on a big variable in reaching its conclusion, you should also take their conclusions with a grain of salt.</p>
<p><em>Pro tip: Be wary of averages used in any study. Remember, the average is derived from the source. Therefore, if the source does not include you, <strong>the averages do not apply to you</strong>.</em><br /><br /><img alt="value of social media marketing" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/average-facebook-fan-fallacy.jpg" style="width: 565px; height: 397px;" /><br /><em>I agree there are a few fluffy figures here. Fluffy figures are things that wouldn’t pass an IRS or SEC audit.</em><br /><br />(<strong>More</strong>: <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/03/13/dear-ebay-its-not-adwords-its-you">Dear eBay, Your Ads Don’t Work Because They Suck</a>)</p>
<h2>Identify the Stakeholders: Who Benefits From This Facebook Fan Study?</h2>
<p>Whenever you’re looking at any report or study, you should ask who gains the most financial benefit from a study. For example, when <a href="http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/newswire/2013/the-full-twitter-tv-picture-revealed.html">Twitter collaborated with Neilsen</a> to release a study on how Tweets can increase a TV show's ratings, the special interest was clear. Twitter sponsored the study to gain favor from traditional TV advertisers, while Nielson also gained to profit by releasing a new ratings systems that incorporated social media signals. Bias immediately becomes a concern.</p>
<p>In Syncapse’s study, the goal is to capture leads. It’s for big brands that need to validate that they’re not undervaluing the importance of Facebook with simple traditional metrics like product sales and the cost of customer acquisition.</p>
<p><img alt="facebook fan statistics" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/facebook-fan-stats.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 412px;" /></p>
<p><em>The difference in behavior is the golden nugget in this study, not the $174 average value on the headlines. The devil is in the details.</em><br /><br />Syncapse wants brands that are interested in fostering a more profitable community to take notice of their study. These brands don’t just want any fans though. They want fans with favorable brand-promoting social media habits.<br /><br /><em>Pro tip: All research studies try to answer a question. The ones that are usually published are the ones that are favorable to the publisher. Keep this bias in mind.</em></p>
<h2>So How Does This Relate to Buying Facebook Fans?</h2>
<p>Syncapse is saying that people who clicked “Like” on your brand page act differently than those who didn’t. That difference, on average, was $174 based on their value factor calculation.<br /><br />What it doesn’t say is that <em>any</em> Facebook Fan is worth $174.<br /><br />However, people will mistakenly believe that the value of a Like on a brand page is, on average, worth $174. This mathemagical conclusion will fuel the “Buy Facebook Fans Cheap!” scamwagon. The same pattern happens with the search industry – <a href="http://moz.com/blog/google-plus-correlations">conclusions are often prematurely drawn</a> on correlation studies.<br /><br /><img alt="buying facebook signals does not increase rankings" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/facebook-share-correlation-to-rankings.jpg" style="width: 700px; height: 277px;" /><br /><em>Google’s distinguished engineer had to publicly dismiss the myth that Google +1’s rank webpages.</em></p>
<p>At WordStream, we’ve seen studies with good intentions misinterpreted at a larger scale with <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/05/16/buying-twitter-followers-pros-and-cons">Twitter followers</a>, and a growing one with <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/06/10/buy-pinterest-followers">fake Pinterest followers</a>. Some websites will even go as far as adding banners from news sites and quotes from journalists and appeal to visitors by authority.</p>
<h2>How A Facebook Fans Scam Could Hurt Your Business</h2>
<p>If you believe that the number of Facebook Fans is a measure of success, then be ready to be scammed. It only takes <a href="http://fiverr.com/gigs/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&amp;query=buy+facebook+fans&amp;order=&amp;x=0&amp;y=0">$5 to cheat the system</a>. Heck this SEO shows that you could <a href="http://www.latitudegroup.com/blog/faking-it-a-confession-warning/">cheat search marketing success with just $1</a>.</p>
<p>When you buy Facebook Fans, the Like increase will look good on paper in the short run. In the long run, the Facebook Fans you bought will come back to haunt you for three reasons:</p>
<ol><li>You are watering down the data you have on your real fans that are doing awesome stuff for you. By buying fake Facebook Fans, you decrease the value of your true Facebook Fans because there’s no way to separate the two with Facebook’s current built-in analytics tool.</li>
<li><span style="line-height: 18px;">You will immediately lose trust from a web-savvy visitor if they use a fake fan checker tool or visit your </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/wordstream/likes" style="line-height: 18px;">historic Like data</a><span style="line-height: 18px;"> and notice a low brand activity vs total like ratio.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 18px;">Your Facebook Fan page could be marked as a spam and removed for violating Facebook’s Terms of Service.</span></li>
</ol><p>So please, please, please. Don’t buy Facebook Fans<strong>. Facebook marketing success isn’t measured in just Likes, but the increased difference in behavior exhibited by people who are <em>naturally</em> your brand’s Facebook Fans. </strong><br /><br />Disclaimer: The author was upset when he realized just how many people had misinterpreted the news from <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/04/04/blog-comments-logical-fallacies">reading the comment section</a>. Foolish, but he couldn’t help it. Please don’t argue with the fool.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-ws-visibility field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Visibility:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Display in WordStream Blog</div><div class="field-item odd"></div><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-google-news field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Google News:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">No</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-taxonomy field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Blog Tags Vocabulary:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/wordstream-blog-tags/social-media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Social Media</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-social-media-share field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Social Media Share:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div>Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:11:03 +0000Victor Pan5335 at http://www.wordstream.comhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/10/29/buy-facebook-fans#commentsHow to Get Phrase & Broad Match Traffic Data Back from Google Keyword Plannerhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/10/17/google-keyword-planner
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>One of the biggest complaints about <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/04/25/keyword-planner">Google’s Keyword Planner</a> – the new keyword tool that replaced the old Google Keyword Tool and Traffic Estimator – is the lack of broad and phrase match traffic support. Contrary to what’s being suggested when you use the Google Keyword Planner, Google will only return exact match traffic.</p>
<p>Today I’ll be showing a few tricks to help you get your phrase and broad match traffic data back.</p>
<h2>What Google Says About Search Volume in Keyword Planner</h2>
<p>Google suggests entering your keywords with standard <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/03/31/adwords-matching-options-guide">match type</a> formatting to get volume based on keyword match type:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-keyword-planner-broken.png" alt="Google Keyword Planner Broken" style="width: 540px; height: 261px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Naturally, an SEO would try all three formats for the same keyword, to compare the traffic volume data:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/keyword-planner-match-types.png" alt="Keyword Planner Match Type Data" style="width: 539px; height: 263px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Here are the results you see on Google Keyword Planner for the three match type variations:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-keyword-planner-bug.png" alt="Keyword Planner Issues" style="width: 650px; height: 218px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>And this is what you actually get when you download the data:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/download-google-keyword-planner.png" alt="Keyword Planner Export" style="width: 650px; height: 101px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<h2>What just happened?</h2>
<p>Google is treating all three searches as exact match searches. Furthermore, they’ve added the three exact match traffic numbers together, as AdWords is creating an ad group traffic estimate. Yes, an ad group of 3 exact match keywords. This is probably a bug.</p>
<p>Here’s Google’s definition of Avg. monthly searches (emphasis mine):</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">“The average number of times people have searched for this exact keyword based on the targeting settings that you’ve selected.</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">About the number: We calculate the 12-month average of the number of searches for this exact keyword based on the location and Search Network targeting settings that you’ve selected (not including your language setting) ….</p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">Note: If we don’t have enough data, you’ll see a dash (-). Average monthly searches don’t take into account the keyword match types you’ve selected. <strong>To see the traffic for different match types, look at your click and cost estimates on the review page</strong>.”</p>
<p>TL;DR: Google takes your broad and phrase match keyword searches and changes them to exact match. As you can see the “average monthly searches” for the three match types are the same number, and Google recommends that you run an AdWords estimate to find out traffic for different match types.</p>
<h2>3 Ways to Estimate Broad Match and Phrase Match Keyword Volume</h2>
<p>Fortunately, exact match is the foundation match type to phrase match and broad match, so it’s possible to reconstruct both. Here are three ways to do it. When looking at preliminary keyword opportunities and trends, I prefer method #1.</p>
<h3>Method #1: Estimating Match Type Traffic by AdWords Impressions Traffic Estimate</h3>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/adwords-traffic-estimator.png" alt="traffic estimator" style="width: 624px; height: 276px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Let’s imagine you’re Google. An advertiser comes to you and tells you that they’ll give you $1 million dollars per click on their ad for a given keyword. That advertiser has an unlimited <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/08/29/ppc-budget-guide">PPC budget</a>. Where would you put the ad if you were in Google’s shoes?</p>
<p>You would always put that ad on the first page of SERPs for their given keyword – and that’s exactly how we’re using the Keyword Planner to extrapolate phrase or broad match traffic. AdWords’ daily estimate of maximum impressions is the closest thing to an organic search on your keyword.</p>
<p>In the example above, “google keyword planner” on phrase match would have an estimate traffic volume of 102.86*365/12 = 3,129 searches a month.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: A search query happens before an ad impression, but it’s possible for a single query to have multiple impressions of the same ad. Your results will also vary depending on which day you run your test, since many AdWords statistics change on a daily basis.</p>
<h3>Method #2: Look at the Impressions &amp; Impression Share Report</h3>
<p>For those who share the sentiment that Google’s keyword tool was <a href="http://moz.com/community/q/how-accurate-is-the-google-s-keyword-tool-regarding-monthly-searches">never accurate to begin with</a>, you’re free to test method #1 with an actual AdWords ad of the keyword you’re doing research on. To make this work, you’ll want to make sure your daily budget is set high enough, ad scheduling is turned off, and <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/08/05/geotargeting-with-bid-modifiers">location targeting</a> is consistent with your keyword research purpose. After a day or month of data collection, depending on how accurate you want your estimates to be, you’ll be able to extrapolate keyword search volume with the following formula:</p>
<p>(Impressions/<a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/10/28/adwords-impression-share">Search Impression Share</a>) / (1 – Search Lost IS (rank))</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/keyword-planner-impressions.png" alt="Keyword Planner Impressions" style="width: 650px; height: 264px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Disclaimer: The image above is just for illustrative purposes and was not an actual test on the keyword “google keyword planner.” Also, it’s expected that this estimate will be inflated compared to actual keyword search volume.</p>
<h3>Method #3: Keyword Scraping</h3>
<p>Last (and maybe least), you can reconstruct phrase match with multiple exact match queries. A simple keyword tool like <a href="http://ubersuggest.org/">ubbersuggest</a> or <a href="http://www.scrapebox.com/">ScrapeBox</a> will give you enough keyword variations to dump into the Keyword Planner (or <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/09/18/best-keyword-research-tools">other keyword tool of your choice</a>). Be wary of duplicate keywords as Google will double count!</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-keyword-planner-seo.png" alt="AdWords Keyword Planner" style="width: 536px; height: 543px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>All that’s left is to get the search volume!</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-keyword-planner-not-working.png" alt="Google Keyword Planner" style="width: 650px; height: 221px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Disclaimer: The margin of error increases greatly using this method as Google will “round” for each keyword you put in. This method seems to result in a higher “phrase match” estimate, but I would argue that the Keyword Planner doesn’t capture the <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/11/07/how-to-find-long-tail-keywords">long tail</a>.</p>
<h2>My Conclusions</h2>
<p>There’s no perfect keyword tool out there in the market, and neither is there a perfect substitute for Google’s phrase and broad match. For a quick estimate, using AdWords traffic estimates is one of the best free methods out there to estimate keyword traffic. To get really precise about actual keyword traffic, you’ll have to invest in some money and time and dabble in AdWords. To truly assess the categorical value of a keyword, you’ll have to really bust out the keyword tools.</p>
<p>So get out there and start testing which method works best for you!</p>
<p><strong>Warning: </strong>As of 10/16/2013 4:50PM EST we noticed that Google updated their search volume estimates for the keyword “google keyword planner” – your numbers will vary from ours because Google updated its data! Special thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/LauraLeeSEO">@LauraLeeSEO</a> from WebMD for checking my sanity.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/101244322810511784030/?rel=author">Victor Pan</a> is WordStream's resident search samurai. When he's not busy gathering and analyzing web data, he's legitimately practicing the way of the sword, kendo.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://www.wordstream.com/google-adwords?cid=Web_Any_BlogBanner_PPC_FindErrors_Grader"><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/sitebanners/adwords-performance-grader-blog-banner.png" alt="grade your adwords account" width="675" height="83" /></a></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-ws-visibility field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Visibility:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Display in WordStream Blog</div><div class="field-item odd">Display to PPC Advisor Customers</div><div class="field-item even">Display to PPC Advisor Trialers</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-google-news field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Google News:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">No</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-taxonomy field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Blog Tags Vocabulary:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/wordstream-blog-tags/seo-marketing" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">SEO Marketing</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-social-media-share field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Social Media Share:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div>Thu, 17 Oct 2013 15:06:15 +0000Victor Pan5334 at http://www.wordstream.comhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/10/17/google-keyword-planner#commentsMatching the Google Algorithm to Your Traffic Losshttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/12/24/google-algorithm-update-changes
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>When website traffic drops, and it’s clear that you were not the cause of it, it’s time to point your finger at Google, rant, and maybe even cut down that 6000 word rant into an informative 3700 word blog post. This SEO is spending Christmas Eve with Google so hopefully you won’t have to.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-algorithm-panda-22.jpg" alt="Google Panda Algorithm Update 22" style="width: 600px; height: 396px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /><br /><em>This is the type of early Christmas card you would not want from Google.</em><br /> </p>
<p align="center"><em>“It’s probably that darn Google Panda,”</em></p>
<p>“I feel like it’s Penguin and negative SEO!”</p>
<p><strong>or </strong></p>
<p>“It might be those directory submissions/paid links that so-and-so did in the past”</p>
<p>Before you go on a zealous “Google is evil” blame rampage, I understand that there’s a ton of ways to blame Google (or someone else) without proof. However, empty accusations will not get you your traffic back. Attributing traffic loss to a Google algorithm update is no easy task. In this post, I’ll outline a bunch of tools, resources, methodologies, and know-how you can use to evaluate potential Google algorithm updates and refreshes* that could be responsible for your sudden loss of traffic.</p>
<p>Warning: To make this post digestible, I’ve excluded things that I consider “features” of Google Search. When Google updates these features, you could either gain or lose traffic as well.</p>
<h3>Table of Contents:</h3>
<p><a href="#Gathering%20News%20on%20Google%20SERP%20Volatility">Step 1: Gathering News on Google SERP Volatility</a></p>
<ul><li>Tools:
<ul><li>MozCast</li>
<li>SERPmetrics</li>
<li>SERPS.com</li>
</ul></li>
<li>News Sources:
<ul><li>Authoritative search engine marketing news websites</li>
<li>Webmaster World discussions</li>
<li>From Google</li>
</ul></li>
</ul><p><a href="#Picking%20the%20Right%20Dates%20to%20Analyze">Step 2: Picking the Right Dates to Analyze</a></p>
<ul><li>The art of framing the question and measuring the right stuff</li>
</ul><p><a href="#Identifying%20Your%20Most%20Impacted%20URLS">Step 3: Identifying Your Most Impacted URLS</a></p>
<ul><li>How to export, list, and rank landing pages with significant traffic loss</li>
</ul><p><a href="#Match%20Your%20Landing%20Page%20to%20That%20Google%20Algorithm">Step 4: Match Your Landing Page to That Google Algorithm</a></p>
<ul><li>Algorithm Updates:
<ul><li>Google Panda</li>
<li>Penguin</li>
<li>Exact Domain Match Update</li>
<li>Pirate Update</li>
<li>“Top-Heavy” Update</li>
<li>7 SERPS Update</li>
<li>Vince Change</li>
<li>Brandy Update</li>
<li>Unknown Updates/Changes</li>
</ul></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Google Features</span>
<ul><li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Expanded Sitelinks</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Universal Search</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Personalized Search</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Google Instant</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Freshness Update (AKA Caffeine)</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Real-time Search</span></li>
<li><a href="http://blog/ws/2013/02/01/knowledge-graph-conspiracy-confirmed"><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Knowledge Graph</span></a></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Google Authorship</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Social Signals</span></li>
</ul></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Local</span>
<ul><li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Venice Update</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Google Places</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Negative Reviews</span></li>
<li><span style="text-decoration: line-through;">Google Mobile Search</span></li>
</ul></li>
</ul><p><a href="#Don%E2%80%99t%20just%20Blame%20Google,%20Do%20Something%21">Step 5: Don’t just Blame Google, Do Something!</a></p>
<ul><li>Prepare your content for the next Google Search trends.</li>
</ul><p><a href="#Diversification%20is%20the%20Best%20Long%20Term%20Solution">Step 6: Diversification is the Best Long Term Solution</a></p>
<ul><li>Non-Google traffic alternatives</li>
</ul><p>TLDR; If you have the SEO ninja powers to understand or foresee what Google update you have been hit by, you can remedy or set long-term plans where you won’t be affected by Google’s periodic whims!</p>
<h2>Tis The Season to Chase Google Algorithm Updates</h2>
<p>While the holiday season is notorious for seasonal SEO traffic changes for B2B and B2C keywords alike, I was seeing unusual traffic changes that started on December 5th, and continued on the 10th and 13th. This was odd, since it wasn’t just the traditional week before Christmas where vacation days aren’t uncommon.</p>
<p>12/18/2012 Update: A Google spokesperson says there was no <a href="http://www.seroundtable.com/no-google-update-16101.html">Google Algorithm “update” on the 13<sup>th</sup></a>. The rest of us are certain that there was some kind of change or a series of changes – this wouldn’t be the first time we’re having trouble interpreting Googlespeak. For example, what SEO’s named the “Vince Update,” Googlers would simply consider a small change to the overall algorithm. Personally, I think Google’s either making a series of changes (they make over 500 a year) or running tests (on any given search query from an average user, there may be 10 elements being tested).</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-algorithm-change.jpg" alt="Google algorithm changes" style="width: 600px; height: 79px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p><em>One may be a fluke,<br />Two is a trend,<br />Three means we better figure out what’s going on.</em><br />-<em>Wise Words of Larry Kim</em></p>
<p>Now without further ado, let’s dig into the analysis. You will need:</p>
<p>- A website whose organic traffic just recently declined<br />- A browser capable of private/incognito/InPrivate/anonymous search. The latest editions of Firefox, Chrome, and Internet Explorer all allow you to browse the web anonymously.<br />- A Google Analytics account correctly linked to said website</p>
<p>Optional: A backlink tool such as Google Webmaster Tools, Majestic SEO’s <a href="http://www.majesticseo.com/">Site Explorer</a> or SEOMoz’s <a href="http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/">Open Site Explorer</a>.</p>
<h2><a name="Gathering News on Google SERP Volatility" id="Gathering News on Google SERP Volatility"></a>Step 1: <span style="line-height: 17.999998092651367px;">Gathering News on Google SERP Volatility</span></h2>
<p>If there truly is a Google algorithm update or change, chances are you’re not the only one with altered search engine results pages (<a href="http://www.wordstream.com/serp">SERP</a>s). Here are the places I checked to see if I’m just being the boy who cried wolf:</p>
<p><a href="http://mozcast.com/">MozCast</a><br /><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-algorithm-tracker.jpg" alt="MozCast tracks Google algorithm changes" style="width: 600px; height: 261px;" /><br />SEOMoz’s handy-dandy MozCast tool tracks the SERPs on over 1,000 hand-picked<strong>, non-local keywords</strong> and displays ranking volatility through cute-looking weather forecasts. The more search results are changing, the hotter the weather forecast becomes. Search enthusiasts, I encourage you to understand the <a href="http://mozcast.com/about">source</a> of this data, and familiarize yourself with the other concepts such as SERP count, EMD and PMD tools offered.</p>
<p>December 10<sup>th</sup> just so happens to be one of those stormy days - check.</p>
<h3><a href="http://serpmetrics.com/flux/">SERPmetrics</a></h3>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-algorithm-fluctuation.jpg" alt="SERPmetrics tracts the fluctuation of Google's algorithm" style="width: 601px; height: 270px;" /></p>
<p>SERPmetrics uses a different scoring system to calculate what they call “flux,” which is the average of all SERP movement they track over their last period, <em>weighed towards the top end</em>. Slightly different methodology than the MozCast, but same concept, AND we’re seeing the same trends.</p>
<p>After December 10th, SERP flux goes upwards - Double checked.</p>
<h3><a href="https://serps.com/tools/volatility">SERPs Volatility Index</a><br /><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-algorithm-volatility.jpg" alt="SERPS.com algorithm volatility index" style="width: 600px; height: 355px;" /></h3>
<p>SERPS.com creates their own SERPs Volatility Index with their own sample of 1000+ websites, as opposed to hand-picked keywords from select industries. What’s nice is that there’s even an average volatility to help you gauge whether a trend appears significant. <em>Special thanks to </em><a href="https://twitter.com/scottkrager"><em>Scott Krager</em></a><em> for spending some time explaining how the index works.</em></p>
<p>After December 10th, SERP volatility trends upwards beyond the average date – Ding ding ding!</p>
<h3>Webmaster World Forums</h3>
<p>Leave it to the webmasters of the world to tell you if they’re also freaking out. The <a href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4407521.htm">Google SEO News and Discussion section</a> in Webmaster World Forums is a goldmine for news and insights. If you would like to comment and add to the discussion, please remember to <a href="http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4407521.htm">stick to the facts and not your emotions</a>.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-algorithm-discussion.jpg" alt="Webmaster World algorithm discussion" style="width: 600px; height: 407px;" /></p>
<p>70-90% drop in traffic? WordStream must be incredibly lucky! I’m not the only webmaster freaking out? Looks like this will make a nice story.</p>
<h3>Search Marketing News Sources: SEL, SEW, SEJ, SERoundtable, and Google</h3>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/search-marketing-news-logos.jpg" alt="Search engine news sources" style="width: 600px; height: 161px;" /></p>
<p>When it comes to confirming a Google algorithm update, these news sites are usually the first to comment on the impact. However, note that their specialty is in news reporting, not speculation – so it’s nice to get to the source – Google. If you’re not already following <a href="https://twitter.com/google">A Googler</a> or <a href="https://twitter.com/mattcutts">Matt Cutts</a> on Twitter, it’s a smart idea to subscribe to <a href="http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/">Google’s search blog</a>.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/twitter-algorithm-update.jpg" alt="Google's official twitter account tweets algorithm updtes" style="width: 600px; height: 101px;" /><br />@Google is Google’s official Twitter account.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/matt-cutts-algorithm-impact.jpg" alt="Matt Cutts answers webmaster questions on Google update." style="width: 560px; height: 373px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>The distinguished Google Engineer Matt Cutts is well known for his webmaster videos on YouTube and answering the question of website owners.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-algorithm-changes-blog.jpg" alt="Inside Search is Google's official search blog" style="width: 600px; height: 218px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /><br />Google has become increasingly transparent about the changes they make in their search algorithm. The only problem is that many of them are cryptically named updates like <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/04/04/google-update-codenames">Porky Pig, smoothieking, and old possum</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Important Disclaimer:</strong> Just because it’s not on the news, it doesn’t mean that one of Google’s many search algorithm improvements didn’t impact your web traffic – even if your overall organic traffic stays constant, it’s very likely that huge SERP movements will negatively impact some of your content while helping others. Step one is purely exploratory to help you test the waters.</p>
<h2><a name="Picking the Right Dates to Analyze" id="Picking the Right Dates to Analyze"></a>Step 2: Picking the Right Dates to Analyze</h2>
<p>Comparing the traffic change date ranges correctly to a good benchmark is practically half of this exercise. With experience, you’ll get a sense of how you’ll want to analyze your data.</p>
<p>1. Because our organic traffic follows a weekly cycle, I could compare the current traffic drop to the same date the prior week, or two weeks prior (use your judgment here).</p>
<p>2. I always want the highest precision possible to minimize data sampling error.</p>
<p>Pro Tip: Always be weary of year-over-year trends (i.e. comparing a non-holiday to a holiday range) and one-time special events (presidential election) from your results. Use your judgment on what makes sense – a bad range will show misleading results.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/traffic-loss-dates.jpg" alt="Organic traffic loss due to Google's algorithm changes" style="width: 600px; height: 220px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /><br />For my own analysis on what happened on December 10<sup>th</sup>, I used the traffic data two weeks prior to the suspected algorithm changes. I had reason to believe that something fishy may’ve occurred on the 5<sup>th</sup>, so I did not want to analyze traffic changes that could’ve been caused by multiple updates. There is no perfect or best date ranges to analyze, but there certainly are darn good ones with good reasoning behind them and this is one of them.</p>
<h2><a name="Identifying Your Most Impacted URLS" id="Identifying Your Most Impacted URLS"></a>Step 3: Find the Offending URL’s By Traffic</h2>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-slap.jpg" alt="Google slaps notable search marketing tool providers" style="width: 338px; height: 250px;" /><br />Ever since SEOMoz, Raventools, and even Ahrefs have been getting slapped by Google’s API legal terms enforcement team, many of us have lost faith in rank-checking tools. Time to go back to checking good-ol’ traffic folks via Google!</p>
<p>1. Log onto your Google Analytics</p>
<p>2. Dig into your Standard Reporting with Content à Site Content à Landing Pages and adjust the dates and rows shown (I like to maximize it to 500). Also make sure you have the Advanced Segment “Non-paid Search Traffic” highlighted.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/landing-page-traffic-instructions.jpg" alt="Google Analytics Landing Pages report selection" style="width: 600px; height: 249px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>3. Export the data into an editing friendly format. Excel users, I recommend using the file types .csv and .xlsx. Hipsters, you’re free to use Google Spreadsheets.</p>
<p>4. Find the traffic lost between the period where you believe there’s an algorithm update to the benchmark period prior for each landing page.</p>
<p>4a. Curse at how unfriendly the data format is to do this.</p>
<p>5. Rank the landing pages by the total traffic lost!</p>
<p>5a. Curse more if you’re not very good at Excel’s List and Filter function.</p>
<p>Here are the top 10 landing pages that were impacted by December 10<sup>th</sup>:</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/traffic-loss-landing-pages.jpg" alt="WordStream's list of top 10 landing pages in terms of traffic lost" style="width: 400px; height: 327px;" /></p>
<p>6. Group similar pages together and make a hypothesis. Seeing that five out of ten of our top traffic loss landing pages was related to our infographics – content that accrued a large number of anchor-text optimized links in a short amount of time – I first suspected that this was a Google update on links, anchor text and/or semantically related keywords.</p>
<h2><a name="Match Your Landing Page to That Google Algorithm" id="Match Your Landing Page to That Google Algorithm"></a><br />Step 4: Gather Up the Clues, Crack the Case.</h2>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/algorithm-clues-to-traffic-loss.jpg" alt="Algorithm update attribution to traffic lost is like a game of Clue" style="width: 400px; height: 400px;" /></p>
<p>This is where SEOs pats themselves on the back and remember why we love our job. Tracking Google algorithm updates to website traffic is like playing detective searching for clues that point to the culprit. Usually it makes sense to start with your hypothesis (you want to hone your SEO senses) but let’s start with the most popular suspects.</p>
<p>These Google updates are the most like culprits for the traffic loss. <em>(If you need more technical </em><a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/12/17/seo-job-interview-questions"><em>SEO interview</em></a><em> questions, any of these algorithms are fair questions to ask an SEO!)</em></p>
<h3>Google Panda Update</h3>
<p>Google Panda defined: Google’s Panda algorithm cracks down on thin content/shallow content, sites with high ad-to-content ratios, and <a href="http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2172154/How-Google-Uses-Human-Raters-in-Organic-Search">other signals that indicate low web content quality</a>. To date, Panda has been updated over 20 times, and cumulatively impacted over 20% of all English queries.</p>
<p>Why so many updates? Googler Navneet Panda didn’t just build an algorithm – it was a machine learning system. Panda is an algorithm with an AI that improves over time. The scariest thing of course, is that Panda is a site-wide penalty.<br /><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/panda-update.jpg" alt="Navneet Panda, creator of the Google Panda update." style="width: 386px; height: 239px;" /><br /><em>One of the few Google algorithms you can put a face to.</em></p>
<p>Algorithm assessment: The easiest way to check for a Panda update is to see if all of your web pages are seeing significant traffic decline. The next step is to assess just how useful your website content is. The WordStream landing pages affected are all long, in-depth articles with original perspective. We were not hit by Panda.</p>
<p>Pro Tip: Article submission websites, which were once touted as an SEO best practice, were negatively impacted by the Google Panda update. These websites were rarely ever visited by real people, and were essentially just a web content and links middleman intended to manipulate Google search engine rankings. Keep your web content unique, useful, and thoughtful and you’ll be clear off the path of the Panda’s wrath.</p>
<h3>Google Penguin Update</h3>
<p>Google Penguin defined: The Google Penguin algorithm (AKA Webspam Update) is notorious for the heavy crack-down it does on websites engaging in linking practices intended to manipulate search engine rankings, but also includes SEO techniques that violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. These techniques include keyword stuffing, cloaking, sneaky redirects/doorway pages, purposeful duplicate content, and others. Like Panda, Penguin rolls out in iterations, and I believe the penalty is site-wide as well, but it has not been confirmed by Google.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/penguin-algorithm-update.jpg" alt="Penguin's algorithm update analysis is heavily link-focused" style="width: 600px; height: 274px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Algorithm assessment: First, I looked to see if these landing pages are somehow getting linked by websites from bad neighborhoods (e.g. porn/gambling sites). To do this, I logged into Google Webmaster Tools/Open Site Explorer/Majestic SEO and delved into each page’s link profile. Actually visit the sites that are linking to the page if you don’t know them, and then look for patterns. It’s not always the latest links that occur that bring down your traffic – old links are sometimes lost, broken, or hacked into doing something else.</p>
<p>Seeing that all 10 landing pages were getting URLS from different, trustworthy domains (with a mix of ugly scraper sites in each) and generally had healthy links (e.g. links from the New York Times), I knew we were not being subjected to <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/07/30/unnatural-links">spammy link practices</a>.</p>
<p>Pro Tip: Link tracking tools are necessary to find out if your website has been participating in spammy link practices in the past, or has been the target of a <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/04/20/negative-seo">negative SEO attack</a>. The more advanced user will also look at the ratio of varying anchor texts that lead to your landing pages. Visit Google Webmaster Tools, Open Site Explorer, and Majestic SEO to learn more about them.</p>
<p><em>If you’ve knowingly attempted to manipulate search engine rankings through other means that are in Google’s Webmaster Guidelines’ grey or red zones, this tutorial is simply too basic for you ;)</em></p>
<h3>Exact Match Domain Update</h3>
<p>Exact Match Domain defined: The Exact Match Domain (EMD) algorithm update was created to prevent SERP domination from domains that are exact matches to the keywords they were targeting. Typically, domains struck by this update have thin content that’s considered low-quality. The EMD update also rolls out periodically like Penguin.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/exact-match-domain-update.jpg" alt="googlekeywordtool.com is an exact match domain example" style="width: 600px; height: 393px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Algorithm assessment: I started by using Google Search with a browser in private browsing mode. If you search for the main keyword variations that are driving traffic to your landing pages and you see competitors with exact match domains beating you in the SERPS, you’ll know that they’ve either improved their page or Google made an exact match domain algorithm change. From my perspective, it looks like an exact match domain algorithm refresh since their website content seems unchanged.</p>
<p>Unfortunately for us, googlekeywordtool.com is a no-nonsense navigational toolbox which people continue to use in order to access Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool – we’ve been head to head with this URL for a while.</p>
<p>Pro tip: Be extra careful with typing in your query, as Google results are known to change as you retype mistakes. (Yes Google is that darn smart when it comes to personalization) and note that this method isn’t perfect as it is still being adjusted for your connection geography. If any of your links show up as purple (clicked in the past) you’re doing it wrong!</p>
<h3>Pirate Update (DMCA Warnings)</h3>
<p>Google Pirate defined: When Google receives a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notice from a copyright owner on some questionable content hosted on Google, Google listens in two ways. First, copyrighted content is removed at the copyright owner’s demands if there’s a clear violation. Then, if a website accumulates an unhealthy number of DMCA take-down requests, the Pirate Update penalizes the whole website from ranking well on Google.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/pirate-update-dmca.jpg" alt="Google has tools to help webmasters with copyright infringing material" style="width: 600px; height: 343px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Algorithm assessment: Unless you’re a black hat spammer stealing someone else’s content as your own, running a file-sharing site without copyright enforcement, or some other internet crime syndication platform, I wouldn’t worry about Pirate. For most of us out there, before you make the <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/10/22/free-blog-photos-not-so-free">mistake of grabbing “free” images on the web</a>, it’s a good idea to check to see if it has some sort of licensing.</p>
<p>Pro tip: If you can’t find the source, use a <a href="http://www.tineye.com/">reverse image search tool</a> to help you make informed decisions without getting in trouble with the law. If you plan on optimizing images for image search, it’s best to own unique images.</p>
<h3>“Top Heavy” Update</h3>
<p>Top Heavy defined: The Top Heavy Google update penalizes websites with too many ads being shown to a user when they first enter their website. There have been reports of regaining rankings when excessive ads were removed and the website was revisited by the top heavy algorithm. Like the EMD algorithm update, Top Heavy also periodically refreshes.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/top-heavy-update.jpg" alt="Example top-heavy website filled with spammy ads" style="width: 600px; height: 367px;" /><br /><em>Here’s a layout of a top-heavy website.</em></p>
<p>Algorithm assessment: Unfortunately, WordStream is not involved in affiliate advertising to comment on this update.</p>
<p>We’ll welcome the expert bloggers of our site to comment on their experiences with the Top Heavy update.</p>
<h3>7-Result SERP Update</h3>
<p>7 SERP defined: The 7-Results SERP algorithm update isn’t a penalty per se, but a new feature Google uses to present information to the searcher. Typically, the usual page with 10 search results gets truncated to 6-9 results on the first page (7 is the most common occurrence) and <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2011/05/04/google-serp-news-sitelinks">the top SERP is a Google sitelink</a>. If you need another reason why rank-checking for SEO should die, here you go. However, the topic of rank-checking is another debate for another informative post!</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/7-results-serp-update.jpg" alt="Our /google-adwords page was already impacted by the 7 SERP algorithm change in the past" style="width: 600px; height: 977px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /><br />Algorithm assessment: Of the landing pages impacted, only our /google-adwords page has been impacted by the 7-Results SERPs, and it pre-dates December 10<sup>th</sup>.</p>
<p>However, a quick check reveals our Google AdWords page has two new competitors – the New York Times and Search Engine Land… fishy!</p>
<p>Pro Tip: Generally speaking, 7-Results SERPs occur on <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/12/10/three-types-of-search-queries">navigational queries</a> which have a result with expanded sitelinks. If you’re competing on a branded terms, this would be an update to keep an eye on.</p>
<h3>Vince Change</h3>
<p>Vince Change defined: Also known as the “Google favors brands” update, back in 2009, a Googler named Vince factored in more trust (quality, PageRank, reputation, authority, and other metrics) into the algorithm for general queries. As a result, webmasters were seeing big brands gain a lot more ground than small brands in the SERPs. Note that Vince does not impact long-tail queries.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/vince-change.jpg" alt="Vince was such a small update that Google calls it a change" style="width: 600px; height: 464px;" /></p>
<p>Case study analysis: The keyword “Google AdWords” is a prime example of how different brands have different strengths when viewed from a Vince perspective. The New York Times was able to penetrate the SERPs of an already heavily branded keyword due to having great online authority (PR9, quality news, and many trustworthy authors) and break through Google’s branded AdWords wall of defense. WordStream is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">definitely seeing something that suggests</span> a Vince-like update, since most of the pages updated target “Google” or “AdWords” keywords.</p>
<p>Pro tip: Big brands can easily bully you out for generic keywords. Either build your brand and become one of them, or focus on the <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/long-tail">long-tail</a>. To become a big brand on the internet, you’ll need to <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2010/04/01/build-amazing-backlinks">build amazing backlinks</a>.</p>
<h3>Brandy Update</h3>
<p>Brandy Update defined: Going even further back to 2004, this update gives additional weight to keyword synonyms and other <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/latent-semantic-indexing">semantically related keywords</a>. This was also when anchor text variations and the “neighborhood” of pages with inbound links started being considered as important ranking factors.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/brandy-google-algorithm-update.jpg" alt="The Brandy google algorithm update introduced the concept of latent semantic indexing" style="width: 600px; height: 213px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /><br />Case study analysis: If you’ve looked for the big Penguin in terms of link neighborhoods and webspam such as keyword stuffing, Brandy will remind you that semantics are important on your website content, internal links, and even the anchor text of other websites linking to your content. Having used infographics as a means to garner links and co-citations from news sites, I knew that the embed codes of our Infographics could be creating an unnatural looking backlink profile. However, this doesn’t rule out the possibility that <a href="http://searchengineland.com/cutts-infographic-links-might-get-discounted-in-the-future-127192">less weight may be given to links acquired through infographics</a>. Anchor text distribution was a legitimate area of concern for us.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/anchor-text-distribution.jpg" alt="Anchor text distribution is somewhere Google looks for keyword relevancy" style="width: 600px; height: 424px;" /></p>
<p><em>If the main keyword you’re targeting is “Google AdWords” but a lot of incoming anchor text links say “adwords grader” instead, it made sense as to why we were losing ground on Google AdWords</em>.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/natural-link-profile.jpg" alt="A natural link profile has a lot of long tail anchor texts" style="width: 600px; height: 488px;" /></p>
<p><em>A natural link profile will have branded hyperlinks, full urls, missing anchor text, and sometimes even misspellings. A “normal” link profile will vary by the competition in a particular keyword space.</em></p>
<p>The charts above was created with Open Site Explorer data. If you’re looking for free tools, I’d recommend a simple ahrefs account. All of their features should be fully functional till mid-January, which is when Google will force them to comply with the newest API guidelines. Alternatively, backlinkwatch.com is also an option – it’s slower than a paid tool, filled with annoying ads, but it’s hard to beat free.</p>
<p>Pro tip: If you’re budget strapped, brain dead or don’t have top-notch keyword research skills, you can always use Google’s Related searches tool as a crux. Otherwise, use <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/keyword-tool-google">WordStream’s Keyword Tool</a> to find semantically related keywords. Before you start <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/03/21/dangers-of-keyword-stuffing">stuffing these keywords into your article</a>, please hire a writer to do it in a manner that is natural and elegant.</p>
<h3>Unknown Updates/Changes</h3>
<p>I’m sorry, but Google is a black box and we can’t know everything about Google. There are plenty of algorithmic reasons as to why you may have lost website traffic that I haven’t described here, and only Google knows. Sometimes it’s suspected that there is more emphasis on trust signals like AuthorRank, other times it’s a focus on keyword semantics or the incorporation of social signals – it’s impossible to pinpoint exactly what is going on by yourself, so make sure you analyze, test, and cross-check with webmasters around the world.</p>
<h2><a name="Don’t just Blame Google, Do Something!" id="Don’t just Blame Google, Do Something!"></a>Step 5: Don’t Just Blame – Have an Action Plan</h2>
<p>I hope you now have a better idea of a few parts that goes into Google’s algorithm, and how to attribute the traffic loss your top pages are experiencing. However, don’t just stop there – you weren’t hired to whine!</p>
<p>At WordStream, we’ve already found ways to diversify incoming link anchor texts, create better lists of semantic keywords to our content writers, and shift our content focus away from infographics in preparation of Google’s current and future algorithm shift.</p>
<p>If it all works out, we’ll have recovered and bested Google’s algorithm for the long run!</p>
<h2><a name="Diversification is the Best Long Term Solution" id="Diversification is the Best Long Term Solution"></a>Step 6: The Long Term Online Traffic Strategy Is Always to Diversify</h2>
<p><img src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/shut-up-and-take-my-money.jpg" alt="Shut up and make money with WordStream" style="width: 500px; height: 281px;" /></p>
<p>If Google pulls a quick one on your organic traffic, is your business dead? For the long run, Google’s bound to make algorithmic updates that will cause your traffic will fall whether you like it or not.</p>
<p>To minimize the impact of this loss, it’s a great idea to invest in <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/social-media-marketing">social media marketing</a> for a steady stream of <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/07/23/referral-traffic-links">referral traffic</a>, email marketing for direct traffic to your website, or <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/ppc">God forbid you forget PPC</a> for a steady stream of qualified leads.</p>
<p>Online marketing is a marathon, and I sincerely thank you for running with us. </p>
<p><em><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/101244322810511784030/?rel=author">Victor Pan</a> is WordStream's resident search samurai. When he's not busy gathering and analyzing web data, he's legitimately practicing the way of the sword, kendo.</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-ws-visibility field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Visibility:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Display in WordStream Blog</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-google-news field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Google News:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">No</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-taxonomy field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Blog Tags Vocabulary:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/wordstream-blog-tags/google" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Google</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-social-media-share field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Social Media Share:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div>Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:02:08 +0000Victor Pan5888 at http://www.wordstream.comhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/12/24/google-algorithm-update-changes#commentsVanity URL: What It Is, How To Get One, & Why Your Life Is Worse Without Themhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/10/10/vanity-url
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><img alt="Vanity has nothing to do with vanity urls" src="/images/vanity-url-definition-misunderstanding.png" style="width: 550px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; height: 170px; " /></p>
<p><em>Vanity URLs have been long misunderstood, for good reason.</em></p>
<h3>Table of Contents</h3>
<ul><li><a href="#what%20is%20a%20vanity%20url">What Is a Vanity URL?</a></li>
<li><a href="#why%20vanity%20urls%20are%20awesome">7 Reasons and 13 Examples of Why Vanity URLS Are Awesome</a></li>
<li><a href="#how%20to%20get%20your%20vanity%20url">How We Got Our Google Plus Vanity URL</a></li>
<li><a href="#celebration">WordStream's Obligatory Google Custom URL Celebration</a></li>
</ul><p>When we got our Google + vanity URL before <a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" href="http://www.wstream.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wordstream Technologies</a>, <a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" href="http://www.wordstreampublishing.com/WordStreamPublishing/Home.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wordstream Publishing</a>, and <a class="seomoz-highlight seomoz-highlight-nofollow" href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wordstream/id511148161?mt=8" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Wordstream the game</a>, it was a moment of celebration. We were about to get an <em>unfair</em> advantage over our competitors with our newly acquired gplus vanity URL. </p>
<p><img alt="Vanity url triggers Knowledge Graph" src="/images/vanity-google-url-seo.png" style="width: 650px; height: 254px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; " /></p>
<p><em>Try searching any brand with a vanity Google URL and you will find that the Google knowledge graph will showcase you over other brands. i.e. Delta Airlines </em></p>
<h2><a name="what is a vanity url" id="what is a vanity url">What is a Vanity URL?</a></h2>
<p><strong>Vanity URL Definition</strong>: A vanity URL is an unique web address that is branded for marketing purposes.<br /><br />Vanity URLs are a type of custom URL that exists to help users remember and find a specific page of your website. Therefore your vanity URLs should be easy to remember, use, and share.<br /><br />There are many benefits to being the first to claim your vanity URL – and just as many setbacks if someone else beats you to it. Many social media websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and most recently, Google Plus offer users and brands the option to customize their gplus profile URLs.<br /><br /><strong>Pro tip:</strong> Vanity URLs should not be confused with vanity domains, which are domains named after the owner’s name. e.g.<br /><em><a href="http://www.davidmeermanscott.com" target="_blank"><img alt="vanity domains are not the same as vanity urls" src="/images/vanity-domains.png" style="width: 650px; height: 154px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; " /></a><br />My friend David was beaten to the vanity domain DavidScott.com – which may seem disadvantageous at first, but I think his pentasyllabic name sounds more catchy and memorable.</em></p>
<h2><a name="why vanity urls are awesome" id="why vanity urls are awesome">7 Reasons Why Vanity URLs Are Awesome, Plus Actionable Examples</a></h2>
<p>To get your brains rolling as to how you can take online marking offline and into the real world, I’ve highlighted 7 reasons and some creative ways to use vanity URLs. We’ll be using our newly acquired Google plus vanity URL to showcase these vanity url examples.</p>
<p><img alt="google plus vanity url comparison" src="/images/google-vanity-url.png" style="width: 400px; height: 170px; " /></p>
<h2>1. Easier to Remember</h2>
<p>Have you ever recommended a website to someone but <a href="http://lmgtfy.com/" target="_blank">they were too lazy to Google it</a>? Worse yet, have you ever found something cool on the web but can’t get the right keyword combination to have it show up on search engines? With an easy-to-remember web address, potential website visitors are less likely to give up before they even reach your website. Plus (hah, get it?), it also looks a lot more pleasing to the eye. This is the reason why URL shortening services like bit.ly and tinyurl are so popular.</p>
<h2>2. Builds More Trust</h2>
<p>What’s more pleasing to the eye also builds more trust. This is common sense not commonly applied here. Which of these two would I have second thoughts about clicking on?<br /><br />Here’s how I see it: there’s irrefutable harmony in our new vanity URL – the call to action matches up with a beautifully honest URL. Without a vanity URL for Google plus, you would create a nasty case of cognitive dissonance to the user. Can I really trust a garbled mess of numbers to lead me to where you say it will? Hyperbole aside, establishing trust on the internet is hard stuff.</p>
<h2>3. Easier to Share</h2>
<p>By being obviously shorter, easier to remember, and more trustworthy, our GPlus vanity URL is also engineered to be more sharable than before. Because it’s made up of words instead of random numbers, we can now share it verbally without reading out the numbers – heck, who would ever read out our old Google Plus URL? In most cases, people would resort to search to find it.<br /><br /><strong>Pro-tip</strong>: Want to keep things shorter and simpler without losing trust? Here are the shortest links you can possibly create on the “big 4” of social media in order of brevity.<br /><br />Google Plus: <a href="http://google.com/+wordstream">google.com/+WordStream</a><br />Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/wordstream">twitter.com/wordstream</a><br />Facebook: <a href="http://facebook.com/wordstream">facebook.com/wordstream</a><br />LinkedIn: <a href="http://linkedin.com/company/wordstream">linkedin.com/company/wordstream</a></p>
<h2>4. Easier to Use</h2>
<p>Now that it’s easy to remember, share, and evokes trust, we’ll actually want to include our Google plus URL when we’re offering options for our fans to follow us.<br /><img alt="Custom Url vs Plain URL" src="/images/sharing-vanity-urls.png" style="width: 400px; height: 299px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; " /></p>
<p><em>This is a rendition of what your thank you slides may’ve looked like.</em></p>
<p><br />If you’ve seen our webinar thank you pages, you might notice that we’ve never included a method to follow us on Google Plus – simply because it was hard to use. Font sizes or formats have to be changed to accommodate a URL which doesn’t clearly represent what it does. If it’s hard to use internally, it’ll be hard to push out externally to customers. Now that it’s easier to use, we’ll make it available to our growing Google Plus fan base.</p>
<h2>5. Empowers Online Sharing</h2>
<p>Isn’t it amazing? Just a small cosmetic change can have a huge impact on your marketing efforts. If you have a strong Google Plus brand presence and active community – or you plan to have one – then it’s smart to build a supporting infrastructure around it. Here are some examples of what you can now do that was previously unfeasible because of one dinky, ugly-looking URL.</p>
<h3><strong>Corporate Emails</strong></h3>
<h3><img alt="Using custom urls in emails" src="/images/email-vanity-url.png" style="width: 431px; height: 181px; " /><br /><br /><strong>Press Releases</strong></h3>
<p><img alt="Customized urls for press releases" src="/images/press-release-vanity-urls.png" style="width: 381px; height: 240px; " /></p>
<h3><strong>Online Presentation Slides</strong></h3>
<p><strong><img alt="Custom urls to encourage participation" src="/images/powerpoint-vanity-url.png" style="width: 550px; height: 446px; " /></strong><br /> </p>
<h2>6. Enables Offline Sharing</h2>
<p>We all know that there are tons of ways people find our website online – and you certainly don’t have to be online to hear about a website. There are plenty of places where you can place your vanity URL on your offline promotional materials to encourage more social activity online. While it’s true that companies are now spending less and less on traditional media ads, you’ll never know for sure if there’s an opportunity lost without testing your ideas out to see how effective they are!<br /><br />Don’t be surprised if these traditional Google advertisements also include a “Learn more on our Google+ Page” in the future since <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/larry-page-just-tied-employee-bonuses-to-the-success-of-the-googles-social-strategy-2011-4">all of Google’s efforts have to be tied to social</a>!</p>
<h3><strong>Direct Mail</strong></h3>
<p><strong><img alt="Using custom urls for direct mail" src="/images/direct-mail-vanity-url.png" style="width: 550px; height: 413px; " /></strong><br />Get a $100 free Google AdWords coupon when you add us on Google.com/+Google!</p>
<h3><strong>Magazine Ads</strong></h3>
<p><strong><img alt="Using custom urls in magazine ads" src="/images/magazine-ads-vanity-url.png" style="width: 550px; height: 310px; " /></strong><br />Learn why at Google.com/+Google</p>
<h3><strong>Newspaper Ads</strong></h3>
<h3><img alt="Using custom urls in newspaper ads" src="/images/newspaper-ads-vanity-url.png" style="height: 400px; width: 300px; " /></h3>
<p>Hangout with a Google Ads expert at Google.com/+Google</p>
<h3><strong>Brochures</strong></h3>
<p><img alt="Using custom urls for brochures" src="/images/brochures-vanity-url.png" style="width: 450px; height: 345px; " /></p>
<p>Learn the newest updates at Google.com/+Google</p>
<h3><strong>Flyers</strong></h3>
<p><img alt="Using custom urls for flyers" src="/images/screenshots/flyers-vanity-url.jpg" style="width: 450px; height: 337px; " /></p>
<p>Get your FREE advertising dollars via Google.com/+Google</p>
<h3><strong>Marketing Promotional Materials (AKA SWAG)</strong></h3>
<p>So an SEO copywriter starts to write about some marketing swag he got in a job fair he recently visited…<br /><br /><em>Pens, pencils, magnets, stress balls, beer opener, beer cap openers, beer bottle openers, yo-yos, yoyo, T-Shirts, Polo Shirts, sweater, mugs, coffee cup, water bottle, environmentally friendly water bottle, reusable bags, environmentally friendly bags, gym bags, USB’s, key chains, keychains, tattoos, temporary tattoos, stickers….(</em><a href="http://cdn.thenextweb.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/11/an-seo-expert-walks-into-a-bar3-520x366.png" target="_blank"><em>Here’s the SEO joke reference if you don’t get the humor</em></a><em> – and dear God I hope WordStream doesn’t start ranking for tattoos.)</em></p>
<p><img alt="Using custom urls on promotional materials" src="/images/screenshots/swag-vanity-url.jpg" style="width: 550px; height: 412px; " /></p>
<p><em>Anywhere your brand or website could show up, you could create a call-to-action to get people involved in your social media efforts. Get creative!</em></p>
<p>Remember, only some of these advertising methods will work for your business – but if you can get your most loyal customers talking, interacting, and sharing your presence online, you’re on the way to building a great customer relationship!</p>
<h2>7. Enables Verbal Sharing</h2>
<p>Imagine the following scenario: you’re on national television and the host gives you the opportunity to sell your business. Aside from your website, wouldn’t it be sweet if you could capture and engage them through social media?</p>
<h3><strong>TV News</strong></h3>
<p><img alt="Vanity urls enables TV sharing" src="/images/vanity-url-news.png" style="width: 550px; height: 308px; " /></p>
<h3>“You can learn more about WordStream on our website wordstream.com, find us on facebook dot com slash wordstream, or google dot com slash, plus sign, WordStream” – and if you’re lucky, you’ll have a little display pop-up show on TV. Let’s not leave it to lady luck.<br /><br /><strong>Radio</strong></h3>
<p>There’s no trick here. You would never be able to say www dot plus dot google dot com slash b slash one one zero nine six two zero three seven eight nine six zero four one seven two three six seven four *deep breath* and expect your listeners to remember or write down the address AND visit your website.<br /><br />There’s just no way without an awesome vanity URL.</p>
<h3><strong>Word of Mouth</strong></h3>
<p>When you’re a brand, you want methods to access your web properties or communities to be as frictionless as possible. The easier it is the more likely people will act on it. Vanity URLs are the start of easier word of mouth sharing, since your customers may choose to visit your brand not through your website, but your presence in social media. </p>
<h2>8. Bonus Round: Dominate Your Branded SERP With Vanity URL SEO</h2>
<p>It’s no secret that when users are looking for a brand, Google loves to put Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Facebook on the search engine results page. Some SEO’s will even argue that this is in part due to the exact keyword match that you’ve customized in the URL. By having the vanity URL to your brand on multiple web properties, you should be able to dominate your SERP with your own marketing message (and not what Wikipedia has to say about you!).<br /><br /><strong>Pro-tip:</strong> If you have a verified Google Plus brand page, the <a href="http://blog/ws/2013/02/01/knowledge-graph-conspiracy-confirmed">Google Knowledge Graph will give it preference over Google Maps</a> (if you’re a business) or Wikipedia (if you’re a person).</p>
<p>Great Scott, vanity URLs are certainly marketing enablers! <em>Just how did WordStream get one for Google Plus?</em> I’m glad you asked.</p>
<h2><a name="how to get your vanity url" id="how to get your vanity url">How To Get Your Google Plus Vanity URL</a></h2>
<p>In order to be considered for Google’s initial custom URL rollout, you first have to have a <a href="http://support.google.com/plus/bin/request.py?hl=en&amp;contact_type=page_verification&amp;rd=1" target="_blank">verified</a>, active Google+ page with user activity. I believe WordStream is currently the unofficial Guinness Book of World Records holder for obtaining a Google Plus branded URL with just 1054 plus ones – all challengers to his claim are welcome. There are, however, rumors that the minimal requirement is 100 followers, not plus ones.<br /><br />Then, by the chance of counting your calendar days or<strong> nicely asking your Google AdWords account rep if they know a Googler on the vanity URL project that could prioritize your brand</strong>, you’ll see this magical grey bar. Legends say that only the chosen few have the luck to access customized URLs on the fabled Gplus network.<br /><img alt="Google Plus custom url claim process" src="/images/googleplus-vanity-url.png" style="width: 650px; height: 287px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; " /></p>
<p>Oooh, a delightfully bright blue button! When you click on it, wild glittery unicorns will appear and flash across your screen with amnesia dust.<br /><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">UPDATE:</span></strong> As of 10/29/2013, Google+ Vanity URLS are now available to all brand pages as long as they <a href="https://support.google.com/plus/answer/2676340?hl=en&amp;topic=2400106">meet these minimal requirements</a>.</p>
<p><img alt="Claim your Google Custom URL" src="/images/google-custom-url.png" style="width: 500px; height: 324px; " /></p>
<p><strong>Pro-tip:</strong> Note here that capitalization does not matter. If a visitor types in google.com/+wOrDsTrEaM (God have mercy on your soul if your visitors type in <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=1337">l337 Sp34K</a>) they’ll still reach our branded page.</p>
<p><br />We also noted two wacky points about Google+ custom URL’s <a href="http://www.google.com/+/policy/tos-custom-url.html" target="_blank">terms of service</a> that were a bit fishy:<br />1. We reserve the right to reclaim custom URLs or <strong>remove them for any reason, and without notice</strong>.<br />2. Custom URLs are free for now, but <strong>we may start charging a fee for them</strong>. However, we will tell you before we start charging and give you the choice to stop participating first. (<em>Emphasis mine</em>)<br /><br />These are extremely minor setbacks considering the benefits you’ll be getting, so check that click-wrap agreement and click “Claim URL” unless you would like to <a href="http://support.google.com/plus/bin/answer.py?hl=en-GB&amp;answer=2716471">Request a different one</a>. If you request a different URL, you’ll have to wait for a verification e-mail from Google; otherwise you’ll be directed to do a final confirmation. Remember, Google only allows one custom URL per page.</p>
<p><img alt="Confirm Google custom url" src="/images/custom-url-google.png" style="width: 500px; height: 241px; " /></p>
<p>With the foresight that this experience could be a blog post, I took the risk for our readers and clicked cancel. The grey bar will still show up on the top of your Google+ page, so rest assured you’re not suckered for not taking Google’s sweet, sweet offer right away.</p>
<p><br />After confirming your choice, you’ll be directed to google.com/+YourNewVanityUrl/about<br /><br /><img alt="Congratulations claiming Google+ URL" src="/images/google-custom-url-claimed.png" style="width: 500px; height: 285px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; " /></p>
<p><strong>Pro-tip:</strong> For the techy power web users who have a knack for breaking down the components of a URL because you’re an extremely savvy online marketer, you’ll also notice that…<br /><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/+WordStream/photos">www.google.com/+WordStream/photos</a> takes you to the photo album,<br /><a href="http://www.google.com/+WordStream/videos">www.google.com/+WordStream/videos</a> takes you to videos<br /><a href="http://www.google.com+wordstream/posts">www.google.com+WordStream/posts</a> takes you to the brand’s Google Plus page wall.</p>
<p>Those who didn’t notice… well… now you can pretend that you knew this all along!</p>
<h2><a name="celebration" id="celebration">WordStream’s Obligatory Google Custom URL Celebration</a></h2>
<p>Hopefully by now we’ve convinced you how awesome it is to have your own vanity URL.</p>
<p>On August 13<sup>th</sup>, Google announced that shorter, customized, and easier to remember Google Plus URLs were going to be rolled out to verified profiles (people) and pages (brands and businesses) on a limited scale for <a href="http://marketingland.com/pre-approved-custom-urls-now-rolling-out-on-google-19586" target="_blank">those deemed most important</a>. The first adopters were superstars like David Beckham, Hugh Jackman, and Britney Spears and brands like Hugo Boss, Toyota, and Delta Airlines.</p>
<p>I thought I’d take the opportunity to pat ourselves on our back and remind our “frienemies” (in the same manner iPhone 5 owners do) that we got our vanity URLs earlier than they did*. This also means that they’re in threat of being unable to execute any of the benefits of vanity URLs I’ve just mentioned.</p>
<p>*fan counts are approximations*</p>
<h3><strong>Surprising Search Marketing Brand Pages Without Vanity URLs</strong></h3>
<p><a href="https://plus.google.com/117807232814593418955/posts" target="_blank">Search Engine Watch</a> – 3,900 Google plus fans<br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/112953633004578114474/posts" target="_blank">Search Engine Journal</a> – 2,500 Google plus fans<br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/101475377013754652573/posts" target="_blank">State of Search</a> – 2,000 Google plus fans<br />(It’s no wonder that Search Engine Land, which got their vanity URL, continues to take the lead with 39,603 Google plus fans)</p>
<h3><strong>SEO Brands With A Significant Google Plus Following Without Vanity URLs</strong></h3>
<p>HubSpot – 13,000 Google plus fans<br />SEO Book – 7,000 Google plus fans<br />Distilled – 3,700 Google plus fans<br />Point Blank SEO – 3,200 Google plus fans<br />Majestic SEO – 2,800 Google plus fans<br />(I haven’t seen any PPC Brands really leverage Google Plus – WordStream is one of the first to do so!)</p>
<h3><strong>SEO’s I Wish Had Their Vanity URLs (Click <a href="http://support.google.com/plus/bin/request.py?hl=en&amp;contact_type=page_verification&amp;rd=1" target="_blank">here</a> to apply)</strong></h3>
<p><a href="https://plus.google.com/111294201325870406922/posts" target="_blank">Rand Fishkin</a> – The CEO of SEOMoz<br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/108652640482631482795/posts" target="_blank">Matt McGee</a> – Editor of Search Engine Land<br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/113402335971622689523/posts" target="_blank">Dana Lookadoo</a> – (Do check out her super awesome presentation on <a href="http://www.seomoz.org/blog/rock-your-seo-with-structured-social-sharing-mozcon-presentation" target="_blank">Structured Social Sharing</a>)</p>
<h3><strong>Widely Followed PPC Experts on Google Plus Who We Think Will Get their Vanity URLs Soon</strong></h3>
<p><a href="https://plus.google.com/118212529999599800263/posts" target="_blank">Joanna Lord</a><br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/114337374493772659703/posts" target="_blank">Brad Geddes</a><br /><a href="https://plus.google.com/112003488454981569114/posts" target="_blank">John Rampton</a><br /><br />Want your name off of WordStream’s list? Shoot me an email or tweet once you’ve received your vanity URL and you’ll receive a mystery prize from WordStream.<br /><br />Claiming your vanity URL is just as important as choosing the name for a brand. So what are you waiting for? </p>
<p><em>This blog post was from <a href="https://plus.google.com/115825372215986294252?rel=author/">Victor Pan</a>, WordStream's resident Search Samurai.</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-ws-visibility field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Visibility:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Display in WordStream Blog</div><div class="field-item odd"></div><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-google-news field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Google News:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">No</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-taxonomy field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Blog Tags Vocabulary:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/wordstream-blog-tags/social-media" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Social Media</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-social-media-share field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Social Media Share:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div>Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:30:08 +0000Victor Pan5336 at http://www.wordstream.comhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/10/10/vanity-url#commentsRank-Modifying Spammers Patent: Did Google Kill the SEO Star?http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/08/30/rank-modifying-spam-techniques
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <h2>SEO Experiments Now Come In A New Flavor: Google’s Messing With Your SERPs</h2>
<p>SEO experimentation is a science. Hypothesis: If I increase the quantity of inbound links pointing to a page (independent variable), then I will see my ranking on the search engine results page (SERP) for the page’s targeted keywords increase (dependent variable). By running enough scientific experiments that were in similar, carefully-controlled environments, SEO’s can make very precise conclusions, i.e. 10 targeted exact-match anchor text links in a guest post author bio no longer increase SERP rankings for a competitive keyword after the latest Penguin algorithm update.</p>
<p>At least, they <em>could</em> make precise conclusions. This causality mindset is being phased-out as a trend of the past as we speak.</p>
<p><img alt="Google Killed the SEO Star" src="/images/screenshots/google-killed-the-seo-star.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 494px;" /></p>
<p>We’ll release this hit single:</p>
<p><em>I pinged you on the web back in the dot com blues<br />Eye fixed on my screen oh what have I got to lose<br />I had things tested so I knew what tactics to choose</em></p>
<p><em>Oh-wuh-oh<br />Oh-wuh-oh<br /><br />You create this patent with your new technology<br />Fight web spamming techniques that users all agree<br />and now I don’t understand the tests I used to see</em></p>
<p><em>Oh oh – I did some experiments<br />Oh oh – Why did you kill them<br />Google Killed the SEO star<br />Google Killed the SEO star</em></p>
<h2>SEO Science Called into Question</h2>
<p>On August 14, 2012, Google was granted a harmless sounding patent called “<a href="http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&amp;Sect2=HITOFF&amp;p=1&amp;u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&amp;r=1&amp;f=G&amp;l=50&amp;d=PALL&amp;S1=08244722&amp;OS=PN/08244722&amp;RS=PN/08244722">Ranking documents</a>,” which describes how Google will randomly move the search engine ranking of a website when “rank-modifying spamming techniques” are being used. Basically, if Google suspects your site uses rank-modifying techniques (because, for example, some change you have made to a page has led to an increase in rank), <em>they may intentionally change the ranking of your page for up to 70 days. </em>Based on the adjustments that happen on said page, Google gains clues as to whether you’re intentionally trying to game its search algorithm. From my understanding of the patent’s wording, anyone who is intentionally doing stuff other than “creating great content” for higher SERPs is a spammer. (Don’t tell me you never thought about asking your friends to help you <em>like</em> your website!)</p>
<p><a href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/facebook_likes" target="_blank"><img alt="Social Begging" src="/images/screenshots/like-begging-matthew-inman.jpg" style="width: 629px; height: 884px; " /></a></p>
<p><em>If you need help on likes, Matthew Inman can help teach you a thing or two about being awesome.</em></p>
<p>Remember the example on guest post author bio links? Well those links may or may not have increased SERP rankings for their targeted keywords, because links that were built may or may not have been flagged as spam. Only Google would know. Aside from the 500+ algorithm updates Google performs yearly, you now have an even bigger worry when you run your experiments. <em>Is Google directly tampering with my SERPS and playing mind games with me?! </em>You’ll never know for sure, so now your experiments have lost even more credibility.</p>
<p>“Link-based manipulation <span style="background-color:#ffff00;">may</span> include the creation or the manipulation of a first document or a set of first documents to include a link or a number of links to a second document in an attempt to increase the rank of the second document… Such <span style="background-color:#ffff00;">manipulation of search results degrades the quality of search results</span> provided by existing search engines.” (Emphasis mine) – <em>Ross Koningstein, inventor of Ranking documents patent</em></p>
<p>Welcome to the age of transparent nontransparency.</p>
<h2>SEO Experimentation IS NOT DEAD</h2>
<p>SEO isn’t just about rankings. Let’s not forget that there are also plenty of A/B tests that impact conversion and not SERPs. While traffic is good, qualified traffic is better, and engaged qualified traffic is the best. Conversion optimization and user experience are two other areas SEO’s test to improve visitor engagement. Not all SEO experiments will cease to exist – correlational studies are actually getting more and more popular.</p>
<p>SEO correlational studies have never been so widely shared. <em>(Have you read </em><a href="http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors"><em>SEOMoz’s Search Engine Ranking Factors</em></a><em>?)</em> Even though I personally don’t find correlational studies actionable, you can often spot the ones that are usually directionally correct, and the ones that are just misusing statistics.</p>
<p><img alt="SEO Correlational Studies" src="/images/screenshots/seo-correlation-not-causation.jpg" style="width: 602px; height: 475px; " /><br /><em>e.g. Do SEO’s create more webspam or does the increased amount of webspam cause more people to want to become SEO’s? That’s actually the wrong question. The correlation only shows that webspam and the number of SEO’s on LinkedIn are both increasing in a similar trend.</em></p>
<h2>Is This Another Case of Google Being Evil?</h2>
<p>In my personal opinion, the patent’s aims are noble – to combat web spam for end users. Sure, some publishers could lose their evil link-building prowess, but others will gain simply from shifting the focus from tracking SERPs and tactics to creating great content. Sometimes having perfect data can hinder you, as the effort spent to ensure its perfection is unnecessary – trends are perfectly viable forms of data analysis to make sound business judgments.</p>
<p>Remember, we’re absolutely talking in a theoretical sense here because <strong>nobody has found proof of this patent in action yet</strong>. I wouldn’t call this patent the Higgs Boson of Google’s increasingly complex algorithm, but <strong>we all need to be wary of its potential impact on SERPs</strong> because of all the SEO snake oil salesmen out there with their new #1 SERP case studies. Can you imagine meta tag stuffing temporarily improving a web page’s SERP?</p>
<p>Do spammy SEO tactics work? We’ll never know for sure…</p>
<h2>Additional Reading</h2>
<p>Bill Slawski is always the first to react on any sort of Google patent. He does a great job going more in-depth and breaking down key points of the patent.</p>
<p>Aaron Wall believes this patent is another example of Google being evil.</p>
<p>My colleague and favorite blogstress, Elisa Gabbert, pointed me towards a very recent article written by Ryan DeShazer who earnestly asks, “Are SEO Spammers?”</p>
<p><em><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/101244322810511784030/?rel=author">Victor Pan</a> is WordStream's resident search samurai. When he's not busy gathering and analyzing web data, he's legitimately practicing the way of the sword, kendo.</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-ws-visibility field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Visibility:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Display in WordStream Blog</div><div class="field-item odd"></div><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-google-news field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Google News:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">No</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-taxonomy field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Blog Tags Vocabulary:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/wordstream-blog-tags/google" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Google</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-social-media-share field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Social Media Share:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div>Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:40:36 +0000Victor Pan6303 at http://www.wordstream.comhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/08/30/rank-modifying-spam-techniques#commentsGoogle People Search Engine?! How I Taught Google Search to People Searchhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/08/01/google-people-search
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="Google People Search Free" src="/images/google-people-search-free.png" style="width: 550px; height: 447px; " /></p>
<p>I taught Google Search tricks the way you teach them to Furby. Their <strike>creepiness</strike> awesomeness is on the same level. Create your unique Google Search stalker app today!<br /><br />When Google’s Search Plus Your World was first released, people were all worried about the world ending as we knew it. The theory was that world views were about to become narrower as an invisible filter bubble would alter your access to information. What I hope to demonstrate here is that I believe the opposite is true.</p>
<p><strong>There’s too much information on the web. Better filters can help users get what they want.</strong><br /><br />Let me show you how I Furby-trained Google to <strike>only</strike> more efficiently fetch the information I wanted – specifically, information about people. (Link-builders, PR professionals, and intelligence agents, it’s time to take some notes.) While I treat my personalized search engine as an endearing creation, I understand why it may be creepy to the rest of us.</p>
<h2>1. <a href="https://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/browser/">Install the Chrome Browser</a></h2>
<p>The goal here is to have Google collect as much information about you and your search habits as possible. Therefore, it’s recommended that you create a separate account so that your “normal” search behavior isn’t affected.</p>
<p><img alt="Personalized People Search" src="/images/personalized-people-search.png" style="width: 440px; height: 382px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; " /></p>
<h2>2. Log into your browser</h2>
<p>Log in so Chrome remembers your bookmarks, history, and settings of all the things you search for.</p>
<p><img alt="People Search Engine" src="/images/people-search-engine.png" style="width: 238px; height: 433px; " /></p>
<p>Dear Google:<br /><br />Please remember what I like to click, what I frequently search for, bookmark, and other patterns that I have when I’m searching whenever I log in. Be sure to log all those CTRs and bounces I make whenever you give me a bad result. Also remember the times where I have to refine a query because you failed to give me a good result.<br /><br />Much love,<br />A WordStreamer</p>
<h2>3. Start people-searching</h2>
<p>I used a lot of Google Search operators and long-tail keyword phrases as I taught my Google Search how to people search. Here’s a sample primer on how to find just about anyone’s email address (the hard way), arranged in order of desperateness. The idea is that by the time you’ve trained Google Search, you won’t ever have to dig so deep or retry multiple times. You’ll save time in the long run.<br /><br /><strong>Generic Long-tail Searches</strong><br />Step 1: First name + middle + last name + company<br />Step 2: Refine, add “@companymailclient.com”<br />Step 3: Refine even more, add more combinations of email me/contact me/email contact/contact information/contact us<br /><br /><strong>Leveraging Emails Publicly Dropped on Social Media</strong><br /><em>You know you’re desperate when you query…</em><br /><br />site:<a href="http://www.thatcompany">www.thatcompany</a>’sdomain.com + generic long-tail searches<br />site:<a href="http://www.facebook.com">www.facebook.com</a> + generic long-tail searches<br />site:<a href="http://www.twitter.com">www.twitter.com</a> + “@twitterhandle” + step 3<br />site:<a href="http://www.linkedin.com">www.linkedin.com</a> + generic long-tail searches<br />site:<a href="http://www.slideshare.net">www.slideshare.net</a> + generic long-tail searches + click to the end of a presentation where contact methods are usually listed<br />site:<a href="http://www.scribd.com">www.scribd.com</a> + generic long-tail searches + click to the end of a presentation where contact methods are usually listed<br />site:<a href="http://www.zoominfo.com">www.zoominfo.com</a> + generic long-tail searches<br />site:<a href="http://www.somesocialmediawebsite.com">www.somesocialmediawebsite.com</a> + generic long-tail searches<br /><br /><strong>Hardcore Exact Email Guestimates</strong><br /><em>Level 2 desperateness …</em><br /><br />“<a href="mailto:first.last@companyemailclient.com">first.last@companyemailclient.com</a>”<br />“<a href="mailto:f.last@companyemailclient.com">f.last@companyemailclient.com</a>”<br />“<a href="mailto:first@companyemailclient.com">first@companyemailclient.com</a>”<br />“<a href="mailto:last@companyemailclient.com">last@companyemailclient.com</a>”<br />“<a href="mailto:allsortsofvariations@companyemailclient.com">allsortsofvariations@companyemailclient.com</a>”<br /><br />For a more comprehensive guide to my email searching process, check out Ken Lyons’ tried-and-still-true article on <a href="http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2009/09/23/find-anyones-personal-email">how to find anyone’s personal email</a>.</p>
<h2>4. Be patient &amp; keep trying</h2>
<p>You’ll start seeing differences over time in the results depending on your search mode, personal vs. work vs. incognito. Same query, same computer, same browser, but different login methods = different results.<br /><br />Please note that even though Zach Epstein, Executive Editor of Boy Genius Report’s public email can be found on BGR’s Contact Us page, it doesn’t mean he’ll reply to you. Please only send him good quality newsworthy stories like this one on PPC and SEO which was recently featured by The Moz Top Ten ;)<br /> <br /><strong>Personal Account:</strong></p>
<p><img alt="Google search" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/google-search.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 390px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Because of my “normal” browsing habits, Google doesn’t realize they pushed the most relevant result down for me.</p>
<p><strong>People Search Account:</strong></p>
<p><img alt="Personalized Search" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/personalized-search.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 296px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>The account I have optimized for people search brings me one click away from the email address I’m looking for.<br /><br /><strong>Incognito Login:</strong></p>
<p><img alt="Incognito Search" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/incognito-search.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 442px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /></p>
<p>Incognito mode demonstrates two things:</p>
<p>1. All personalized results are variants of the incognito results as it forms a base of relevant results.<br />2. Most of the time your people-search-optimized SERP results will not vary too much from the incognito result.<br /><br />This is especially true if it’s a new group of keyword ideas you’ve never really dug into. It took me 5 tries to find this one good example where there were differences in the top 3 SERPS.<br /> <br />Want to see something <em>very</em> different? Why don’t you compare your SERPS with mine when you search for “Pete Cashmore contact email @mashable.com”?</p>
<p><img alt="Find Personal Email" src="http://www.wordstream.com/images/find-personal-email.jpg" style="width: 650px; height: 552px; border-width: 1px; border-style: solid;" /><br /><br /><em>You may or may not find those potential emails show up on the 2<sup>nd</sup> or 3<sup>rd</sup> page of SERPS. They’re on the first page for me.</em></p>
<h2>Final Note: Why Don’t You Just Use A People Search Engine?</h2>
<p>Well, you could. If you’re going to do that, then feel free to try all 15 of these people search websites to do your search, and tell me which ones are actually worth my time. Alternatively, you could also use this excellent Rapportive hack to automate email finding (highly recommended, much better method). Whatever works for you, will work for you – and I’m not against them. I’m not arguing that training Google Search for people search is the most efficient method to reach out to people, because it isn’t. Rather I’d like everyone to think about <strong>the possibilities of personalization</strong>.<br /><br />Personalized search is a great thing when you are empowered to turn it on or off. The changes in information fetched are all algorithmically based on the user’s behavior and habits. In other words, if you’re aware of what’s causing the bias, you can even use it to your advantage.<br /><br />So what will you teach your Google Search today?<br /><br /><strong>P.S.</strong> Still worried about search personalization? Just turn on that SSL, private, incognito, or whatever mode they call it on your browser. But remember. Whenever you hide your browsing data, an internet marketer cries about (not provided) and one less cat picture is posted on the internet.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/101244322810511784030/?rel=author">Victor Pan</a> is WordStream's resident search samurai. When he's not busy gathering and analyzing web data, he's legitimately practicing the way of the sword, kendo.</em></p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-ws-visibility field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Visibility:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Display in WordStream Blog</div><div class="field-item odd"></div><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-google-news field-type-list-integer field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Google News:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">No</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-taxonomy field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">WordStream Blog Tags Vocabulary:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/wordstream-blog-tags/google" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Google</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-social-media-share field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Social Media Share:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"></div></div></div>Wed, 01 Aug 2012 14:08:42 +0000Victor Pan6314 at http://www.wordstream.comhttp://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/08/01/google-people-search#comments